The Society of Christian Scholars' First Global Conference
Call for Papers
Paper Proposals and Publication
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- As an interdisciplinary conference, all disciplines are welcome to present their understanding on the various topics of the conference.
- Doctoral students are also encouraged to submit paper proposals.
- Submit paper proposals to Chair of Editorial/Paper Proposals Team by 15 February 2026.
- Acceptance of papers will be notified by 15 March 2026.
- If accepted, presenters should be prepared to present their papers in 10 minutes with 15 minutes of discussion.
- By the conference, papers should be in mature form to facilitate a robust working group conversation and prepare for possible publication.
- After the conference, organizers will publish a selection of the best papers from each sub-theme. Presenters will have a chance to submit their full paper of 6000 words (including footnotes) for peer-review, which must incorporate any insights received from the conference working groups or subsequent conversations.
Conference Themes and Working Groups
In order to explore the conference theme in more depth, we are interested in pursuing the following questions through these working groups:
With respect to calling, what are some of the attributes of Christian academics serving in pluralistic universities? How might your calling as a scientist and a Christian shape your understanding of your academic discipline, the kinds of research questions you pursue, or how you teach your specific science? How and why might God’s kingdom purposes enable pluralistic universities in your contemporary context to flourish?
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- Working Group 1: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Calling of the Christian Scholar
- Working Group 2: Christian Scholarship in a Pluralistic, Polarized World
- Working Group 3: Christian Scholarship in a Hostile Environment
- Working Group 4: Navigating the Postmodern University as a Christian Scholar
With respect to connection, what are the challenges and opportunities Christian scholars face in pluralistic universities? How might the humanities and sciences build connections between respective disciplines to address the challenges Christian scholars face in the university? What does it mean to be a mentor? What gender and racial challenges do Christian academics face in the university? What does it mean to do Christian scholarship in a digital age?
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- Working Group 1: The Challenges and Opportunities for Christian Scholars in Africa/Asia/Latin America/Other Regions
- Working Group 2: Gender and Racial Justice–Intersectionality & the Christian Scholar
- Working Group 3: Mentoring as a Vocation: Guiding the Next Generation
- Working Group 4: Christian Perspectives on Emerging Technologies: Ethical Considerations (AI, Data Privacy, Biotechnology)
With respect to community, how and why might Christian scholarship contribute to community development and transformation? What is the relevance of Christian scholarship to global issues of migration (including ‘brain drain’), urbanization, peace and conflict, forms of political economy (i.e., how societies agree to structure themselves), environmental justice, etc.? How might the environmental sciences, climate science, mathematical sciences, social sciences, systems engineering, city planning, etc., contribute to developing community that fits with God’s redemptive purposes? What is academic friendship; how might it enrich university life?
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- Working Group 1: Building a Community of Christian Scholars Across Cultural and Geographic Differences
- Working Group 2: Fostering Dialogue and Collaboration between the Global North and the Global South
- Working Group 3: Friendship and Collegiality in Academic Life
- Working Group 4: Strategies for Building Community through the Society of Christian Scholars
To submit a paper proposal, please visit our Member Site:
Upcoming Opportunities
2026 Christian Scholars Foundation Legacy Grant Opens 20 October 2025
Available only to scholars in the U.S. and Canada
Global Scholars, one of the principal partners of the Society of Christian Scholars, will again award one Christian Scholars Foundation Legacy Grant in 2026. The grant will be awarded to a junior faculty member in the U.S. or Canada. The purpose of this grant is to advance Christian scholarship, encourage Christian scholars who are seeking to integrate Christian faith with their academic endeavors, and nurture Christian faculty as they strive for wider recognition in and beyond the academy.
Applicants are required to be members of the Society of Christian Scholars and the Emerging Scholars Network. The 2026 Christian Scholars Foundation Legacy Grant will be $10,000. More details and the grant application are available at the Society of Christian Scholars member site.
Questions concerning the grant may be sent to Dr. Hannah Eagleson, Christian Scholars Foundation Legacy Grant Director, here. You may read testimonials from past recipients here and interviews with several recent recipients on the Emerging Scholars Network Blog: Carrie Bredow (2016), Jill Ellenbarger (2017), Eleanor McGlinchey (2017), Jennifer Hawk (2018), Derek Thompson (2019), and George Montanez (2023).
Next Spiritual Formation Meeting
The Spiritual Formation Group, led by Dr. Nita Kotiuga, meets on the second Wednesday of every month. The next meeting, on Wednesday, 10 December 2025 at 1400 UTC, will continue to explore various forms of experiencing God together through prayer. This will be a time of listening and teaching, followed by sharing. Depending on the type of prayerful experience being explored, meetings will last 1 to 1.5 hours.
Be sure to have your Bible readily accessible as well as pen and paper, because handwriting slows us down to help us express more accurately how we feel. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Dr. Kotiuga at nita.kotiuga@bgu.edu.
Society Library
The Library Reading Group meets the first Friday of every month. The next meeting, on Friday, 5 December at 1400 UTC, will discuss Issue 1 of the SOPHIA Study Guide Series. If you would like to participate, be sure to register for what will be a fruitful conversation! Should you have any questions, contact Dr Marlene Hines, the Society Librarian, at mhines@societyofchristianscholars.org.
This month’s Library Reading Corner feature includes an annotated bibliography of six library resources under the library categories Interacting with Cultures and Society and Pursuing Vocational Excellence.
These resources provide further reading related to the October 2025 webinar by Dr. Gina A. Zurlo, Women in World Christianity: Facts, Figures, Challenges and Opportunities.
1. Women in World Christianity: Building and Sustaining a Global Movement by Gina A. Zurlo
Brief Description: This book is the result of a research of the Women in World Christianity Project. The research also resulted in the development of the first dataset of the “gender make-up of every Christian denomination in every country of the world.”
2. The Church and Women in Africa by Isabel Apawo Phiri
Brief Description: This book focuses on the influence of Christian missions on the practice of Christianity in Africa, the relationship between missions and African culture, and the resulting impact on the role of African women in the church.
3. Assessing the Impact of an Intervention Project by the Young Women Christian Association of Malawi on Psychosocial Well-being of Adolescent Mothers and Their Children in Malawi by Mitsunge Katingwe, Ibrahim Chickowe, Lotte Van Der Haar and Nettie Dzabala
Brief Description: This article reports on the impact of a YWCA of Malawi project that sought to improve the psychosocial well-being of adolescent mothers and their children in Malawi. The research results indicated evidence of enhancement of parental skills and improved development of children born to adolescent mothers in Malawi.
4. Towards Women Leaders in Palestinian Evangelical Churches by Madeleine Sara
Brief Description: This dissertation focuses on obstacles faced by Palestinian women in church leadership. The research presents “the limitations of women in leadership roles and positions of responsibility and addresses the inequality in the manner in which the women are treated as well as the opportunities they are offered to advance in leadership in the Arab Palestinian evangelical church.”
5. Title: Partnering for the Gospel: Creating Environments in which Men and Women can Thrive by Ellen Duffield
Brief Description: This paper, presented at the 2019 Lausanne Global Workplace Forum, calls for partnership between men and women in workplace ministry for greater effectiveness and impact.
6. Presentation Slides for the webinar ‘Women in World Christianity: Facts, Figures, Challenges and Opportunities’ by Gina A. Zurlo
Brief Description: This is a copy of the Society of Christian Scholars webinar presentation on Thursday October 16, 2025. The presentation is full of graphics depicting detailed data based on empirical research.
Upcoming Webinar
Be sure to check the Webinars Page for third-party webinars that are often added on short notice and for updated presenters and topics that may be helpful in equipping you to bring the gospel to bear in your university context.
Perceptions and Determinants of Entrepreneurship in a Christian Environment: A Science-and-Faith Analysis by Albertine Bayompe Kabou – Thursday, 20 November 2025 at 1400 UTC
Poverty is a real challenge for African countries, where unemployment rates are often very high. Faced with this situation, many people, especially young people, live in very difficult conditions. Careful inquiry grounded in a solid understanding of social development and entrepreneurship can discern why Francophone Christians are so marginal with respect to economic development in their countries.
On Thursday, 20 November 2025 at 1400 UTC, Dr Albertine Bayompe Kabou, Lecturer in Economics at Université Assane SECK de Ziguinchor in Senegal, will discuss her analysis of Christians in Francophone African countries and why they seem to have a passive attitude towards entrepreneurship. Their lack of involvement in entrepreneurship can find roots in the continent’s history of slavery and colonization, but also in other sources such as the educational system, the sociological characteristics of Africans and the influence of religious beliefs.
The objective of this presentation is to explain the perceptions of entrepreneurship among Christians in French-speaking Africa. The interest of this research is twofold: (1) to address the causes of the passivity of French-speaking African Christians in entrepreneurship, and (2) to identify ways to make them more present in economic development, with the aim of improving their living conditions and financing mission and evangelization projects.
Join the conversation about how entrepreneurial business can be a tool to effect real change for the well-being of your society by registering below!
The Q&A period will be in both French and English. It will be moderated by Laurent Kayogera, a scholar of communication sciences, a Society leader in Burundi, a training coordinator for the Burundian IFES movement, and a senior catalyst in the Logos and Cosmos Initiative, and Stephen Ney, a scholar of literature from Canada who teaches academic writing and critical thinking in Sierra Leone and coordinates theology-and-science training for the IFES Logos and Cosmos Initiative.
Apologetics in Africa: Then and Now by Kevin Muriithi Ndereba – 18 December 2025 at 1400 UTC
Although Christianity in Africa is growing, apologetics is needed to deepen the quality of Christian faith in Africa. In view of the increasing challenges posed by emerging non-religion among younger generations, globalization, postmodernity and postcolonial discourses, a coherent account of the faith is needed. This account must build on the Western tradition of apologetics and incorporate a holistic approach that answers the questions Africans are uniquely asking.
On 18 December 2025 at 1400 UTC, Rev. Dr. Kevin Muriithi Nderba, Lecturer and Head of Department of Practical Theology at St Paul’s University, Kenya, will present the historical, biblical, theological and practical aspects of the apologetic task in Africa. He will draw on his recently published edited work titled Apologetics in Africa: An Introduction (Langham Publishers, 2024).
The Rev. Dr. Kevin Muriithi Ndereba is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, currently serving as an associate minister at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. He is author of Youth Ministry after the Pandemic: A Practical Theology from the Global South (Wipf and Stock, 2025). Previously an electrical engineer, Rev. Ndereba is interested in practical theology, apologetics and science-engaged theology. His current activities include a Templeton-funded project on mental health through the Psychology Cross Training Fellowship Program for Theologians at the University of Birmingham, and the EU Open Science Project for digital transformation of higher education institutions in Kenya and Tanzania. He was awarded the Kuma-Yu Paper Prize in spiritual formation by the Overseas Ministries Study Centre at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is married to Jessica and father to Noah.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the Addenda are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the Society of Christian Scholars.
